Electrical devices are often attached to printed circuit boards (PCBs) by soldering terminals of the electrical device to a surface of the PCB. Surface Mount Technology (SMT) is a particular method of soldering electrical terminals to a PCB. SMT has been developed to affix electrical devices upon PCBs in an automated manner, but the devices may also be placed manually. SMT has reduced cost, improved reliability, and reduced the overall physical size of the PCB in many applications. SMT allows for mounting electrical devices on both sides of a PCB, which was not possible using through hole mounting technology.
SMT is a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted directly onto the surface of a PCB or other suitable component surface. SMT is a proven technology for creating electronic assemblies with higher packaging density when compared with comparable through-hole technology methods of PCB assembly. The components are typically mounted on the board by an automated method such as a robot assisted assembly line. Electrical points of contact between the components and the board may be treated with solder paste. Assembled PCBs may then be treated in a high temperature oven at temperatures of up to about 265° C. or higher to reflow the solder. The oven may be operated with an air atmosphere or under an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen.
Electronic devices so made are called surface-mount devices (SMDs). SMT has largely replaced the previous construction method of fitting components with wire leads into holes in the circuit board, which is called through-hole technology. An SMT component is usually smaller than its leaded counterpart because it has no leads or smaller leads. It may have short pins or leads of various styles, flat contacts, a matrix of balls, or other terminations on the body of the component to assist with fixing the component to the board and/or establish an electrical connection between the board and the component.
PCBs supporting light emitting diodes (LEDs) may be used to form light displays. Often, multiple LED lighting PCBs are coupled in series by two or more wires to form a string of PCBs. The string of PCBs provides for a flexible light source able to adapt to the contours of large letters used in signage. Current practice is to connect the wires to the PCBs by soldering the leads of the wires to the top surface of the PCB. The step of soldering the wire leads to the boards is time consuming and costly.
In related patent application Ser. No. 11/615,235, a connector for attaching a wire lead to a PCB was disclosed that solved many of the problems of prior art connectors. This connector received a wire lead to be connected on one side of the connector. The connector was capable of receiving more than one wire lead, but the wire leads entered the connector from the same side. When using this connector to string PCBs in series, one connector would be used to receive and secure wires from an electrical device from a first direction, and another connector would be used to receive and secure wires from another electrical device from the opposite direction. Therefore, at least two connectors were necessary to provide an electrical connection in a series string of PCBs.
Therefore, there is an unmet need to provide a single connector for securely connecting a first wire lead to an electrical device from a first direction and a second wire lead from a second electrical device from an opposite direction by a simple, reliable and cost effective process, such as a SMT automated process. The connector must approach the small physical size envelope of the wires to be soldered to the PCB so as not to shadow any neighboring components.